Kinky

Grissom’s waking routine was practically etched in stone. While much of the city was returning home from the daily grind, he was waking up. He never hit snooze, despite or perhaps because of the nightmares that plagued him with increasing frequency, preferring to rely on a strong, sweet coffee to bring him round as he perused the daily paper that had been delivered earlier in the day, with the TV flashing pictures on mute in case anything caught his attention. It paid to keep up to date.

After the day’s news had been caught up on, Grissom would turn to the crossword, only allowing himself to begin it once all the previous day’s answers had been fully checked with those printed in the paper that day. Although he knew there to be no real correlation between his success at the word game and his success in the forthcoming shift, a completed puzzle gave him a subtle confidence in tackling the trials he faced at work. Today was no exception. A smug smile on his face as he drove to work, Grissom parked up and strolled confidently into the lab. A last minute revelation had seen him complete the crossword in time to phone his mother and chat briefly about the arrangements to collect her from the airport later before he had to leave for work.

Walking past the break room, he nodded a quick hello to Nick and Warrick before making his way to his office to organise the assignments for the shift. The addition of Thayer to the team was causing him a logistical headache as both he and Greg needed supervision at all times. He saw Catherine already harassing one of the lab techs with no discernable motive other than sport. Strange that Sara was not yet in. Unless…

As Grissom suspected he found her asleep in front of a computer screen that was flashing with the Las Vegas Missing Persons Database. In true Sara style she had stayed up until exhaustion had finally pulled her under. Not before finding the girl though, he noted proudly. Odd though, he hadn’t thought this case had gotten to her the way some others did. It wasn’t one she would typically be chained to the computer for. He extended a hand as if to stroke her hair, but instead let it hover an inch or so above her head. She was so beautiful. He wondered whether she slept like that normally, all curled up, or whether she spread out in the comfort of her bed. He knew he should wake her; that would be the professional thing to do. His hand refused to cooperate. Surely this crossed no boundaries. Hell, he wasn’t even touching her. Purely professional. Because he often spent time staring at colleagues as they slept, his rational mind snidely interjected. Grissom sighed, lowering his hand. His thoughts were interrupted by Sara slowly starting to rouse.

“Did you say something?” She asked, her voice husky with sleep, blinking as her eyes adjusted to the bright office lights.

“No, I… Shift is about to start.” He said, starting to retreat quickly to the safety of the door. If only he could make it out into the corridor then his treacherous feelings could be forced back into supervisor mode.

‘Griss… I… found the girl.’ Sara seemed almost nervous as she told him, unsure of his reaction, although Grissom couldn’t think why she would be.

“Bring your findings to the break room. I’m about to give out assignments.”

Supervisor hat successfully reinstated, he left the room without so much as a backward glance and with no small amount of relief, which was not lost on Sara. That would be the last time she stayed up all night to find a vic that she thought had been getting to him. Not even a ‘well done’. She sighed. That was the job. You had to do it for yourself. The job had to be the reward in itself. Another Grissom-ism, she thought wryly as she got up from the unforgiving office chair, stretching her back and neck as she made her way to the locker room to grab her spare set of clothes.

Grissom walked into the break room to hand out assignments, only to find Mark Thayer already holding court with what seemed to be a morality tale of epic proportions. A quick look at each of the others told Grissom that Sofia was the only one even close to buying it. Thayer continued to talk as if oblivious to his entrance.

“So there I was, behind bars, my reputation in ruins, no job, and my wife gone. That was when I realised the changes I needed to make. So here I am, back to square one, but valuing every lesson I’ve learned that’s brought me to this place…Oh, Gil, I didn’t see you there…” Grissom fought the sudden urge to roll his eyes and called everybody together for their briefing, studiously ignoring the persistent daggers Catherine was staring at him. She hated to be out of the loop at the best of times. Something this juicy happening on her shift… no wonder she was seething.

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Grissom studiously ignored Sara as she slipped into the team briefing late. A challenge made harder by the quick shower she had obviously taken, leaving her brown locks to curl naturally. Thankfully supervisor Grissom was in charge, with his hat squarely on his head, his eyes trained on his team, and his mind joining Sara in her shower…

“So is that everything?” Grissom’s attention snapped to Catherine with all the finesse of a pupil caught daydreaming in class.

“No, I think Sara has got an ID on the vic.” He recovered quickly.

“Yeh, I got a hit off Missing Persons. The vic is Samantha Partridge. Age 22. I’m just about to pass the details onto Brass so he can get in touch with her family.” Sara passed out copies of the photo for the others to take with them.

“Is that everything?” Catherine repeated emphatically, making it clear that Grissom would not make it out of the room alive if he didn’t start explaining Thayer’s presence. Fast. Catherine Willows was a dangerous woman to ignore. Grissom took a deep breath.

“No. I have an important announcement to make. Dr Mark Thayer will be joining us on Night shift for an unspecified length of time. He has been cleared as a CSI Level One, and is to work on any cases assigned to him, especially those relevant to his field of excellence, entomology.” For a moment nobody said anything, although looks were exchanged like ping pong between the entire team. Eventually Nick cleared his throat.

“Welcome to the team.” He shook Thayer’s hand with a wide smile in place that would fool anybody, except the rest of the team. Slowly the others all offered their own welcomes. Grissom noted with irritation Thayer’s subtle appraisal of each of his female co-workers during their turns. The urge to punch out a few of his teeth was swept aside deliberately as he broke up the meeting. Everyone seemed reluctant to leave, finding excuses to hang back until Sofia and Thayer had left for their case. As soon as they were out of sight down the hall, verified by Greg sticking his head into the corridor, everybody started to talk at once. Finally Catherine out-gunned the others and they fell silent to let her do the interrogating.

“What the hell is going on, Grissom? They’re hiring a guy that tried to cheat the court with a tampered test case?”

“Yes, the powers that be feel that he will be an asset to the lab.” Grissom hated this. Politics confused him at the best of times. All treachery and lies. This was worse; having to justify a decision that had never been his to make.

“They’re bringing in another entomologist?” Catherine was calmer now, but he knew her well enough to know that her brain was still spinning at a hundred miles an hour, making logical connections that any normal person would miss.

“Yes.”

“You’re not planning on leaving us any time soon, are you?” Trust Catherine to cut straight to the point.

“No, this decision was made above my head. I’m sure you’ll all treat Dr Thayer with the utmost respect.” Grissom said, effectively ending the conversation. He noticed more than a few of the others sigh inwardly in relief. Catherine seemed placated for the moment, although she would probably corner him later for a more private ass kicking, he thought wearily.

“Right then, let’s get down to it. You ready for some punishment?” Catherine winked at Warrick, who merely grinned, although if he hadn’t known better Grissom would have sworn he’d heard a whispered ‘always’ as Warrick followed her out the door.

“They’re off to check out the BDSM clubs closest to the crime scene.” Nick filled Sara in as she finished the dregs of her coffee with a grimace.

“Clubs as in plural?” She questioned with raised eyebrows.

“Very plural.” Nick grinned. “Come on, kiddo, you’re with me. We’re leaving Obe Wan and Luke to it.” Twin pouts from Grissom and Greg at this, causing Sara to chuckle as she followed Nick from the break room.

“It’s the beard.” Nick whispered as they left, stroking his chin for effect. Sara’s delighted laughter at this travelled back to the break room, stirring Grissom’s jealousy. Professional jealousy of course. It was merely that he wanted to be out in the field today, taking advantage of his crossword confidence, instead of holding Greg’s hand through the autopsy. Purely professional, he thought, pleased with himself for fully justifying his jealousy. Of course it had nothing to do with Sara relaxing and enjoying the company of another man, a younger man. Nothing at all.

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After a fruitless, if amusing, few hours spent with Nick driving round to various distributors of BDSM clothing and toys, Sara returned to the lab with an armful of freebies but no further information for the investigation.

“The outfit could have come from any one of 15 distributors in Vegas alone.” She announced to the break room, frustrated. Greg and Nick took advantage of her lapse in concentration to delve into the mysterious bags and liberate some of the goodies. Nick found a miniature whip four inches long. He snapped it at Sara, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. Meanwhile Greg had a look of intense concentration as he groped in a different bag. His fingers found something and pulled it slowly out. His eyes grew progressively wider as each bead on the string was freed from the bag. Even Sara had to laugh at this.

“For your butt.” She whispered. Greg yelped and dropped it as if it had burnt him. Nick and Sara collapsed in fits of giggles.

“Honey, I think it’s time we told him about the birds and the bees.” Nick deadpanned putting a hand on Sara’s shoulder.

“He’s growing up so fast.” Sara sighed, full of dramatic regret. Greg scowled as he stalked towards the break room door.

“Wait, Greggo. We’re just messing with you.” Sara somehow managed to form words, although she still rocked slightly with laughter. Greg sighed and turned back round in time for Nick to chip in.

“Yeah, man, we’re just yanking your chain.” The corresponding motion that Nick made with the anal beads caused both him and Sara to lose it once more. Greg sighed once more in frustration, although this time it was more good-natured and he returned to the table to join in the battery-operated fun eventually culminating in a vibrator race across the break room that even roused several lab techs from their tasks. Thankfully Grissom had been shut up in his office since he had returned from the morgue. It was unlikely he would see the funny side.

Three sets of beeping eventually brought them out of their revelry. Nick got to his pager first.

“DNA results are back. Blood on the wall was not the vic’s. No match found.”

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Sofia and Thayer caught up with the rest of the team at the diner. Sofia looked as if she might scream if Thayer opened his mouth even once. Sara almost felt sorry for the girl, having to work alongside such a jerk. Sofia flopped into her seat with an audible sigh.

“How’d the double go?” Nick asked between mouthfuls of egg.

“What is it with Christmas bringing out the wack-jobs? I mean seriously! Two of the performers from the Cirque de Soleil, still in costume, no one even noticed they were gone. They were found miles from the Strip, cut up so bad that one of them is still yet to be conclusively identified…” Sofia shook her head in disbelief.

“What were they dressed as?” Sara asked, brow furrowed.

“Birds.” Sofia shrugged.

“Like doves?”

“I guess, I mean they were white. Why?”

“Well that girl from last night was cut up pretty bad too. Killer left a message behind. I was just thinking maybe he really is a Christmas wack-job…” Blank faces all round. Sara started singing her clarification.

“On the first day of Christmas, my true love sent to me…”

“Oh my God. Laura Partridge.” Greg suddenly made the connection.

“Well done, Greg.” Everyone looked up to see Grissom accompanied by an elderly woman.

“Guys, I would like you all to meet Anne Grissom, my mom.” Everybody greeted Anne slowly and in turn. Nobody commented on her deafness, although Grissom could see several pennies dropping at once.

“So you knew the killer was a serial?” Catherine demanded suddenly.

“I suspected. But Greg was the one who produced the first evidence of a real link.”

“Actually it was Sara.” Greg tried not to gush too much. He just really loved working with Sara.

“No, Greg. Sara was twisting the evidence to fit the theory. Credit where credit’s due.” Greg’s face fell like a child caught in his parent’s divorce. Sara looked at her plate and after a brief awkward silence the others carried on as if nothing had been said. Grissom and Sara were always tearing strips off each other. It was barely worth a second glance.

Anne Grissom furrowed her brow. It was unlike her son to be so hard on one of his colleagues. In fact she had always been impressed by his seemingly endless patience with those he worked with. How strange that he would speak about that girl in front of her colleagues that way. Suddenly the answer hit her. Of course! She smiled to herself. Why, Gilbert, you may as well go all out and pull her pigtail! Immediately her mind started to formulate a plan.

“Ready for a tour of the lab?” Grissom brought her out of her private plotting.

“I’m sorry, Gilbert, I’m starting to feel quite tired. Maybe you could show me round tomorrow?” She played her best old and frail act, hoping it would work on her ever-perceptive son.

“Sure, Mom, I’ll take you home to rest.”

“I know you have lots to do, son. Why don’t you let one of your team take me back. It would give me chance to get to know them.” Sara kept her head down and stared at her plate, feeling for all intents and purposes like a pupil trying not to catch the teacher’s attention when they wanted a volunteer to read aloud in class. She felt the inevitability growing as each of her colleagues excused themselves one by one, until finally…

“Sara?”

“Yeah?” She finally raised her eyes from her plate to meet Grissom’s gaze.

“Would you mind giving my mom a lift?” Damn him! Would she ever be able to refuse those blue eyes anything?!

“Sure, Griss, no problem.” She even managed to force a smile as they rose to leave.

Grissom felt somewhat uneasy about this turn of events, a feeling not helped in the slightest by the satisfied smile he could have sworn flashed across his mother’s face. Anne Grissom was pleased with the all too easily won success of her plan. Nobody ever expected little old ladies to have an agenda and it was no secret whose genes her son had when it came to intelligence. Now she would be able to get to know this Sara Sidle on her own terms. Yes, this was going to be a very interesting visit.